The Shot That Started It All

On Jan. 15, 2013, senior guard Marshall Henderson entered the college basketball consciousness and put Ole Miss basketball back on the map.

Vanderbilt had hit a go-ahead 3 to give the Commodores a 78-75 lead over Ole Miss with 3.2 seconds left in regulation. Moments later, Henderson threw in a 35-footer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, as Ole Miss downed Vanderbilt 89-79, the third of six-straight wins to open Southeastern Conference play last year.

"We didn't call a timeout," head coach Andy Kennedy said of the play. "We got the ball in the guy's hands that we wanted. I would give Jarvis (Summers) more credit than I would give anybody else because he was the one that didn't panic and got Marshall to at least where he was square to the basket. And then he knocked down a shot at the end of a crazy game.

"As we're preparing for (Vanderbilt), I always go back to the last time we were in the venue, and they hit a Memorial Gym record number of 3s. It was one after another after another after another. For us to withstand that and still find a way to win and still to garner some momentum in our 6-0 start was huge."

It was the first of many memorable moments for Henderson and last year's team, as the Rebels returned to Nashville and won the Southeastern Conference tournament championship to clinch the program's first NCAA Tournament bid since 2001.

"It was just one game, but honestly it was probably the jump-off to this phenomenon that has continued 365 days later: Marshall Henderson phenomenon," Kennedy said. "That was closely followed up by us winning at Auburn and the jersey popping, and this thing took on a life of its own."

A year later, the phenomenon continues, and Henderson ranks second in the SEC in scoring averaging 19.2 points per game. He also leads the SEC and ranks second in the nation averaging 4.43 3-pointers per game and has hit a 3-pointer in a school record 50-straight games.

The Hurst, Texas native was named SEC Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday. He averaged 22.0 points and 3.5 assists per game in wins over LSU and South Carolina, and now he returns to where the phenomenon started: Memorial Gym and a Wednesday night matchup with the Vanderbilt Commodores.

"He presents unusual challenges because of his shot-making ability," Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings said. "He has such great ability to make difficult shots. Most great scorers just know how to get themselves -- or their coaches get them -- to the shots that they can make time after time.

"The deal with Henderson is he can just make more difficult shots. They run really good screening action for him, and he is a very fast cutter. He's unique in the way that he can score and really score in bunches. He can get them in flurries -- two, three or four in a row. I would say that he's unique in the way that he goes about it."

It's great to be a Rebel fan. Coach Freeze
Has brought back the excitement
Competitiveness we all so desire. The
fan base and even our doubters are
Paying attention. Even the whole country
Sport tLk shows ect. Are taking notice.
After we upset Alabama this weekend
38-27 we will bolt to a top 12 or better
Ranking. Go Rebels

I am not and never have been an Ole Miss fan. I am however a Coach Freeze fan. I like what he represents in today's world of big time sports and what he stands for in leading young men of today into a more responsible role. He is everything that Ole Miss has never had. I am on his band wagon winning or losing.